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WTH is going on with TFO PVE difficulty?!
pulpsmack
Member Posts: 96 Arc User
I’ve been playing a little while (Advanced Difficulty Gameplay and TFO settings), and have been a longtime “Rare, Mk XII” player for most of my alts. After a couple of Phoenix prize pack runs, I have given all alts some “Epic Mk XV” sets and my main runs that gear on board exclusively.
Well, I have noticed a perceptible albeit somewhat marginal difference in damage dealt to enemy ships given the upgrades.... however, I have noticed over the past week or so I have been getting absolutely F’ing crushed in TFOs.
I have played long enough to account for certain things like adjusting to moving from a big carrier to a small escort. It’s not some subtle change like transitioning from a L5 unlocked T6 ship to a L1 T6 or something like that, having played enough runs to rule that out. And the fact that my main, (who has all sets maxed at Epic) being smashed this quickly and easily is utterly ridiculous... Especially when considering it was not so with “Very Rare Mk XII” gear and every day new endeavor rewards (supposedly) make my characters harder to defeat.
I do not run tailored loadouts, for TFOs/missions, so arguably one TFO with enemies running antiproton may be more damaging to Alt 1, while another TFO with enemies running Polaron may be more damaging to Alt 2’s setup. This is probably the only variable I cannot account for yet.
Does anybody know what the deal is? Was there a new patch that increased difficulty in Advanced settings? Is there some stupid metric that scales PVE opponents to the players’ gear/power level?
Well, I have noticed a perceptible albeit somewhat marginal difference in damage dealt to enemy ships given the upgrades.... however, I have noticed over the past week or so I have been getting absolutely F’ing crushed in TFOs.
I have played long enough to account for certain things like adjusting to moving from a big carrier to a small escort. It’s not some subtle change like transitioning from a L5 unlocked T6 ship to a L1 T6 or something like that, having played enough runs to rule that out. And the fact that my main, (who has all sets maxed at Epic) being smashed this quickly and easily is utterly ridiculous... Especially when considering it was not so with “Very Rare Mk XII” gear and every day new endeavor rewards (supposedly) make my characters harder to defeat.
I do not run tailored loadouts, for TFOs/missions, so arguably one TFO with enemies running antiproton may be more damaging to Alt 1, while another TFO with enemies running Polaron may be more damaging to Alt 2’s setup. This is probably the only variable I cannot account for yet.
Does anybody know what the deal is? Was there a new patch that increased difficulty in Advanced settings? Is there some stupid metric that scales PVE opponents to the players’ gear/power level?
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments
Since there have been no general changes, it would help the discussion if you list a specific TFO and what you played it with: your ship, your gear, your traits (did you forget to set them?), your power levels, etc. Also check it wasn't something silly like your shield being moved to your inventory because of a game hiccup.
Something that can happen is you get a team where some or all of the team are under geared and not carrying their weight. That could make it seem like the difficulty has changed.
The fact that enemies might have different levels of damage might simply be due to your resistances. as davefenestrator said it could also be a matter of your team being under geared and not really up to the task. Personally when I fly with my fleetmates I sometimes feel I'm useless due to how good they are compared to me, but when I do a pug I never feel that way.
I haven't noticed any change in difficulty or know of any patch that has increased difficulty.
> Nope, no change I've noticed with any of my 14 alts.
>
> Since there have been no general changes, it would help the discussion if you list a specific TFO and what you played it with: your ship, your gear, your traits (did you forget to set them?), your power levels, etc. Also check it wasn't something silly like your shield being moved to your inventory because of a game hiccup.
>
> Something that can happen is you get a team where some or all of the team are under geared and not carrying their weight. That could make it seem like the difficulty has changed.
Most recently it was Gateway to Grethor Adv running Nausicaan Kolasi Siege Destroyer. All gear below is Epic Mk XV
Weapons: 3/3 sets Entoiled (F1, F2) & Res Preserver (F4 - Beam Array, Aft 2 Torpedo); 2/3 sets House Martok (360 beam Aft 3) & Terran Task Force (Disruptor Beam Array - Aft 1); and Wide Arc Disruptor Dual Heavy Cannons (F3)
Consoles:
E1 Suppemental Systems, E2 Ferrofluid Hyd. Assy., E3 House Martok;
S1 Naussican Siphon, S2 Timeline Stabilizer;
T1-T3 Disruptor Induction Coil, T4 Counter-Command Multi-Conduit, T5 Harmonic Resonance Relay
Space Sets:
Iconian Resistance set 2/4 (Shield and Warp Engine; Prevailing set 2/4 (Innervated Deflector & Bolstered Impulse); Field Distortion Overcharge Plus - Experimental Weapon
There may be something to teams not pulling their weight, but all of these variables that everybody seems to be mentioning We’re just as likely have applied when running very rare MK XII sets. This is what is so baffling to me.
Random PUG is random.
I just applied 5 experimental tech upgrades (2x quality chance) to 5 mark II VR consoles, and got -0- quality improvements over 45 upgrade steps (5 x 9). My first reaction was like yours: did they break these tech upgrades? Nope, just RNGods laughing at me.
Sometimes it is Cryptic ruining your day, sometimes it's just random being random and you get a bad roll 45 times in a row.
I have been in that one before and seen struggling players just start ignoring enemies and trying to close gates instead. Now, that's not a bad thing.. not at all, at least they're still trying to help, but if you have a few of your team mates take this approach then it leaves the lions share of combat to you.
I definitely agree that this sounds like a case of you just having bad luck with teammates. The fact is, these days there does seem to fewer good players available in the public pool of players and that can have an effect on your game difficulty. I did, of all things.. Azure Nebula Advanced the other day (for Endeavor) and I watched one player fight a single Tholian ship for the entirety of the time it took me to free an entire ship at another point. It was.. just baffling how little damage this guy did, it was by far the lowest damage output I have ever seen a player do. I must have spent a minute to a minute and a half freeing this ship (4pt Ha'Pax) while that entire time he fought a single AI ship to a stalemate (I ended up killing it.) You get someone like that, it's going to be tough.
I would suggest maybe try joining a fleet and finding people you can play with, it makes the game a lot more fun. People don't have to be DPS legends, or anywhere close.. just competent players that want to try to help the team. You get a couple of those guys, and you'll find things are a lot easier. A good team really helps in this game, you're probably doing fine.. sometimes you just have to deal with this stuff when rollin' with PUG's.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
The mechanics of the game are kind of weird if you are used to the "trinity" style setup.
What is (relatively) new though is the way they have been setting up scenarios for TFOs and now patrols to match the Star Wars style mass dogfights that DSC uses and since all weapons are the same regardless of the size class of ship those mass waves of BoPs and other small ships can really give player ships a pounding when several swarms are triggered at the same time. Some of the scenarios the groups are far enough apart not to do that, but in others they are a little too close and you start getting hit from all sides.
Also, science mobs are using more (or at least more annoying) science functions than they used to which can be a big balance problem sometimes. My drain boats seem to have the least problem since it seems to keep those shenanigans to a minimum.
I am not a fan of the way the Mokai like to spam transporter bombs from up to a half a dozen ships at once, and right through the shields at that, even though the only shields leaky enough to do that in the source material are limited to DSC and a limited niche trick from Voyager that only works if the enemy is not expecting it. Those bombs plus all the nickel and dime damage from scores of trash mobs getting past shield hardness can turn the situation nasty fast. Some of my smaller ships have suddenly melted under that nonsense without any of the shield facings actually running as far down as red much less down completely.
If they are going to do DSC style battles instead of the more traditonal type they really need to rethink balance.
And, on a slightly different note, the old invisible mega-torpedo bug seems to be back, occasionally the death recap lists insane levels of torpedo damage though not as often as it used to during the previous bug resurgences.